Following the template: transfer of modeling skills to new problems

The importance of the ability of mathematical modeling as a method of application of mathematics in different contexts is emphasized in numerous studies. It is unknown, however, what happens to the skill of modeling formed on typical tasks in solving problems with atypical context. In the sample 106 first-year students, we experimentally verified how transfer occurs of modeling stages from a typical problem on an atypical, but structurally similar one. The results of the study of modeling skills transfer show that with close and distant transfer the success of different stages of modeling is different. With the close transfer, the formal template reproduction takes place, without the alignment with the text of a new problem, which hinders further interpretation. With the distant transfer, modeling skills are replaced with an ordinary way of addressing problems, a simple selection. Thus, modeling skills as a multi-stage process transforms differently in close and distant transfer.